Only Murders in the Building: Lifeboat
October 15, 2024 6:33 PM - Season 4, Episode 8 - Subscribe
Charles, Oliver & Mabel combine forces with the film actors in an epic showdown.
Loved Eugene Levy's attempts to get Charles to rage out, and Charles' eventual "tantrum."
Also this bit:
Mabel: Wait. Helga's not Rudy's ex-girlfriend? That was another lie?
Rudy: Yeah, in addition to setting a human on fire, we also lied about me having a girlfriend. May God have mercy.
posted by creepygirl at 7:15 PM on October 15 [7 favorites]
Also this bit:
Mabel: Wait. Helga's not Rudy's ex-girlfriend? That was another lie?
Rudy: Yeah, in addition to setting a human on fire, we also lied about me having a girlfriend. May God have mercy.
posted by creepygirl at 7:15 PM on October 15 [7 favorites]
I will say that Helga wasn't as bad as she could've been, but she was a pan-Nordic mix of stereotypes with a comedy Austrian accent. Nothing especially Finnish about her. Ah well, I'll forgive them.
Otherwise, this was a fun episode. I did like the meditation on loneliness. One of the themes of this series, and goes along with all the doppelgangers, is companionship, and I found the portrait of lonely people finding friends in the big city touching.
posted by Kattullus at 5:44 AM on October 16 [7 favorites]
Otherwise, this was a fun episode. I did like the meditation on loneliness. One of the themes of this series, and goes along with all the doppelgangers, is companionship, and I found the portrait of lonely people finding friends in the big city touching.
posted by Kattullus at 5:44 AM on October 16 [7 favorites]
I loved that they did A Few Good Men, I loved that he did the whole bit, I love that they edited it like it went on for half an hour when the whole thing is basically two minutes, and I loved the reaction shots. I think it's worth it too, Rudy.
posted by phooky at 6:31 AM on October 16 [13 favorites]
posted by phooky at 6:31 AM on October 16 [13 favorites]
Some thoughts:
- Ok, they actually said "Jamon Iberico" even though, yes, if it was being sent from Portugal, then it would be "Presunto". (See, they could have caught them earlier!) Nobody was actually in Portugal and I'll drop this tangent now.
- If Helga's back isn't she in the apartment that Mabel has camped out in?
- I know they have all decided to not tell about Dudenoff in order to allow them to stay in their apartments, but hasn't that ship sailed? Isn't there a murder investigation ongoing? Or did the actual cops never connect the extra shoulder piece with Dudenoff?
- I think Helga did it. Sazz was asking too many questions and she didn't want her friends to get in trouble. She had already figured out Dudenoff was dead on her own. She completely made up something that points to Paul Rudd. Also, she's a locksmith and that comes in pretty handy for, you know, stuff.
posted by vacapinta at 8:17 AM on October 16 [6 favorites]
- Ok, they actually said "Jamon Iberico" even though, yes, if it was being sent from Portugal, then it would be "Presunto". (See, they could have caught them earlier!) Nobody was actually in Portugal and I'll drop this tangent now.
- If Helga's back isn't she in the apartment that Mabel has camped out in?
- I know they have all decided to not tell about Dudenoff in order to allow them to stay in their apartments, but hasn't that ship sailed? Isn't there a murder investigation ongoing? Or did the actual cops never connect the extra shoulder piece with Dudenoff?
- I think Helga did it. Sazz was asking too many questions and she didn't want her friends to get in trouble. She had already figured out Dudenoff was dead on her own. She completely made up something that points to Paul Rudd. Also, she's a locksmith and that comes in pretty handy for, you know, stuff.
posted by vacapinta at 8:17 AM on October 16 [6 favorites]
A friend pointed out that the set wall hanging that said "mean cold meat" on the wall is a riff on Charles' "Nice Hot Vegetables"
posted by Gorgik at 10:01 AM on October 16 [10 favorites]
posted by Gorgik at 10:01 AM on October 16 [10 favorites]
- If Helga's back isn't she in the apartment that Mabel has camped out in?
Mabel is in Dudenoff's apartment - though, doesn't explain the pig living there. Presumably, Helga has an apartment somewhere else down the hallway.
- I know they have all decided to not tell about Dudenoff in order to allow them to stay in their apartments, but hasn't that ship sailed? Isn't there a murder investigation ongoing? Or did the actual cops never connect the extra shoulder piece with Dudenoff?
That's a good point. I even went back to confirm it was Williams (NYPD) who Mabel reached out to for the implant identification. I could sort of see the character Williams not caring about what's going on with the rent control and not giving that info over to the FBI, and maybe at some point they'll tie this up....but, this is a really good point.
We still have a situation, though, where for now it seems like there has to be a shooter and an accomplice. This was the whole reason the gang thought it was the Brothers sisters and then the ham aficionados. It's a crime of at least two people. Helga would have to have some one to help her out. And why try and take out Oliver? Would that helper be Glen?
I feel like a rewatch of Season 1 might help shed some light since they're tying it back to the "holes" back then.
posted by Atreides at 12:01 PM on October 16 [1 favorite]
Mabel is in Dudenoff's apartment - though, doesn't explain the pig living there. Presumably, Helga has an apartment somewhere else down the hallway.
- I know they have all decided to not tell about Dudenoff in order to allow them to stay in their apartments, but hasn't that ship sailed? Isn't there a murder investigation ongoing? Or did the actual cops never connect the extra shoulder piece with Dudenoff?
That's a good point. I even went back to confirm it was Williams (NYPD) who Mabel reached out to for the implant identification. I could sort of see the character Williams not caring about what's going on with the rent control and not giving that info over to the FBI, and maybe at some point they'll tie this up....but, this is a really good point.
We still have a situation, though, where for now it seems like there has to be a shooter and an accomplice. This was the whole reason the gang thought it was the Brothers sisters and then the ham aficionados. It's a crime of at least two people. Helga would have to have some one to help her out. And why try and take out Oliver? Would that helper be Glen?
I feel like a rewatch of Season 1 might help shed some light since they're tying it back to the "holes" back then.
posted by Atreides at 12:01 PM on October 16 [1 favorite]
Also, she's a locksmith and that comes in pretty handy for, you know, stuff.
"Who are you and how did you get in here?"
"I'm a locksmith. And I'm a locksmith."
posted by kirkaracha at 12:53 PM on October 16 [11 favorites]
"Who are you and how did you get in here?"
"I'm a locksmith. And I'm a locksmith."
posted by kirkaracha at 12:53 PM on October 16 [11 favorites]
"Dead men don't send ham."
posted by Pronoiac at 6:45 PM on October 17 [4 favorites]
posted by Pronoiac at 6:45 PM on October 17 [4 favorites]
It felt like a nice take on the "humanizing the murder victim" episode, since Sazz didn't need humanizing. (I'm so sad she's dead!) I have been calling the DUDENOFF NOT MURDERED thing for a while, so I was pleased.
posted by grandiloquiet at 9:32 PM on October 21 [3 favorites]
posted by grandiloquiet at 9:32 PM on October 21 [3 favorites]
I really liked the Anthony Daniel’s Mr Feeney vibe they were going for with the Dudenoff casting. Well done.
posted by dr_dank at 4:22 AM on October 22 [1 favorite]
posted by dr_dank at 4:22 AM on October 22 [1 favorite]
Zach gets married quarterly!
Eva has a sexy surprise multitool! Which Mabel does not want to touch. Legit.
Eugene: Are you angry now? Now? Now?
Charles: SUPPRESS BECAUSE IT'S NOT APPROPRIATE TO SHOW ANGER! Also, these albums are not alphabetized!!!
What is this, a surprise housenapping?
"Crazy? Me?...I don't know why i keep replacing the battery."
Rudy Is that guy who can recite an entire movie and nobody wants him to.
"Charles! Tantrum with me!"
"You adorable baloney loaf!" Wow, Zach!!!!
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:54 PM on October 22 [1 favorite]
Eva has a sexy surprise multitool! Which Mabel does not want to touch. Legit.
Eugene: Are you angry now? Now? Now?
Charles: SUPPRESS BECAUSE IT'S NOT APPROPRIATE TO SHOW ANGER! Also, these albums are not alphabetized!!!
What is this, a surprise housenapping?
"Crazy? Me?...I don't know why i keep replacing the battery."
Rudy Is that guy who can recite an entire movie and nobody wants him to.
"Charles! Tantrum with me!"
"You adorable baloney loaf!" Wow, Zach!!!!
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:54 PM on October 22 [1 favorite]
Going through stray tabs to close them up, I found this one with a comment draft never-posted. Might as well, I guess:
I think the idea of being #onlymirrors obsessed has lost some of its charm for me now that they've acknowledged in interviews that mirroring/reflecting is a major theme of the season, but Richard Kind's mirror finally made another major appearance this week -- in so many shots! -- and this time it was right in the center of the screen again, pointed right at us.
And also: in the soundstage reproduction of Charles' apartment, on a shelf to the left of the painted portrait with the face effaced, there was what sure looked to me like a wooden mirror frame with its reflective surface removed.
(I guess there's still the question of whether they went to all the hassle of placing Richard Kind's mirror in a production-hampering spot for future narrative payoff or just for the thematic nod, but it's feeling a lot less like a Chekhov's mirror after those interviews.)
posted by nobody at 8:26 PM on November 24 [2 favorites]
I think the idea of being #onlymirrors obsessed has lost some of its charm for me now that they've acknowledged in interviews that mirroring/reflecting is a major theme of the season, but Richard Kind's mirror finally made another major appearance this week -- in so many shots! -- and this time it was right in the center of the screen again, pointed right at us.
And also: in the soundstage reproduction of Charles' apartment, on a shelf to the left of the painted portrait with the face effaced, there was what sure looked to me like a wooden mirror frame with its reflective surface removed.
(I guess there's still the question of whether they went to all the hassle of placing Richard Kind's mirror in a production-hampering spot for future narrative payoff or just for the thematic nod, but it's feeling a lot less like a Chekhov's mirror after those interviews.)
posted by nobody at 8:26 PM on November 24 [2 favorites]
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 6:40 PM on October 15 [2 favorites]